Rod Stewart Croons, Fans Groan
In 1957, Frank Sinatra released a little ditty called “Can I Steal a Little Love?” Never heard of it? Not surprising. It was with this Nelson Riddle-arranged, jangly ballad that the legendary crooner tried his hand at pop/rock, to keep pace with the emergence of rock ‘n’ roll and one Elvis Presley. Sinatra was completely out of his element. He knew it. His label knew it. His fans knew it. The song tanked with a resounding thud.
Nearly 50 years later, along comes rocker Rod Stewart trying his hand at crooning. It’s an epidemic among aging pop/rock stars these days — Bette Midler, Cyndi Lauper, Ronald Isley, Michael Bolton have all recently released albums of American standards and middle-of-the-road pop classics.
Stewart has managed to release two quadruple-platinum-selling discs under the banner of “The Great American Songbook.” There’s talk that volume three is on the horizon. Judging by the lukewarm reception Stewart’s crooning of the classics received in a sold-out show Friday night at the Allstate Arena, it might be a decision worth rethinking. Where the albums boast excellent studio manipulation of vocals and orchestration, in live performance the material became a case of Rod, you just don’t wear it so well.
But for the first 90 minutes of the concert, Stewart kicked ass. Decked out in a tangerine waistcoat, orange shirt and tank top, tight black jeans and his signature choppy mane, Stewart looked every part the bad boy rock star, even at age 59. He laid into the hits with a vengeance — “This Old Heart of Mine,” “Hot Legs,” “You Wear it Well,” “Downtown Train” (a thousand times better than the beleaguered album version), and from the fabulous catalog of the Faces (the band that put him on the map in the ’70s) came the heavy hitters — the beautifully lyrical “The First Cut is the Deepest,” the explosive “Stay With Me” and the rowdy “Oo La La.” Song after song, Stewart strutted across the massive stage — jumping, preening, spinning, running, skipping; the pace would put much younger pop-star wannabes to shame. Throughout, the crowd roared — and rightfully so — with deafening approval.
And then, after a 20-minute intermission, a stunned near-silence fell over the crowd as Roderick the Crooner, decked out in full white tie and tails, emerged from a 1940s-style big band bandstand amid a 16-piece orchestra.
Looking painfully uncomfortable in the garb, Stewart did his best to reassure the crowd “it’s only gonna be a half-hour of this.” By that time though, the crowd was eerily subdued, the applause only appreciatively polite. Stewart awkwardly navigated “The Way You Look Tonight,” “As Time Goes By,” “I’m In the Mood for Love” and a few other standards while much of the crowd broke into conversations and made cell phone calls.
The interest level returned as Stewart smartly peppered the set with some of his power ballads, including “Tonight’s the Night” and “Have I Told You Lately that I Love You.” But it wasn’t until he left the stage and re-emerged in a scarlet suit and laid into “Maggie May” that the crowd came roaring back.
At one point in the evening, Stewart commented, “I’m only getting better as I get older.” Yes, he is. And he doesn’t need songs that are older than he is to prove it.
courtesy: courtesy Chicago Sun-Times
